Happy Valentine's Day

Thanks to Andrew for reassuring me on the overtime pay. Jonathan and I are used to the US, where "we'll pay you later," if it's not in writing, means, "we'll never pay you a dime, sucker!" And thanks to Christal as well. CAF, though, seems like it'll be a bust. Despite all we've heard about the French government aid, we are not likely to get much if anything. The case worker said he'd be "astonished" if we got any aid with housing, and as for aid with Tristram, "we'll see." They'll send us a letter in three weeks telling us the outcome. It seems the French share the "thum ferriners arr steelin' arr munny" attitude of Americans, even (as with Americans) for foreigners who were solicited to come, are here legally to teach their kids the English they desperately want them to know, and are paying full taxes. At least in France it's only an abstract xenophobic defensiveness, and on the individual level everyone is delighted to have us here. I doubt any society is altogether free of that kind of generalized unfairness--unfortunately, that's the level that determines policy.

Oh well, we hadn't figured any extra assistance into our budget anyway. If we do get any aid, it'll be a nice surprise. Meanwhile, I am still feeling intense pressure to get a job with decent benefits; most nights I wake up around 5 am worrying on it.

We took Tristram to the library and park today, and he saw girls riding at the Poney Club. He kept grabbing me to see if I was watching how amazing it was, and then signing "horse! horse!" He also likes the eagle at the start of the Colbert Report, which he calls "Colbeagle."

He made his first invention last night: He stuck a contact lens case in a larger plastic case to make a rattle. He figured it out and shut the case himself, and was so excited, even though he's been over rattles for a long time, that he ran all over the house shrieking with delight for half an hour. He took it apart and put it back together at least a dozen times. Today he shut the door to his room all the way while he was playing hide-and-seek with me, and freaked himself out quite thoroughly. It doesn't lock, but he can't work the knob to open it yet. He was so scared we had to get Daddy from the kitchen where he was cooking dinner to help console him. Hopefully that means he won't do it again soon, but we'll see. Oh, and he can climb all the way into the second shelf in the closets now. The boy is too dextrous for his own good, it seems. But I can't help being proud of his monkey skills.